Breakdown of Não pegues no decalquezinho sem a pinça!
não
not / no
em
in / on / at
a
to / at (direction)
o
him/it (m)
sem
without
pegar
to take hold of, to pick up (pegar em)
a pinça
the tweezers
o decalque
the decal
Questions & Answers about Não pegues no decalquezinho sem a pinça!
Why is it no decalquezinho and not just o decalquezinho?
When the verb pegar means to pick up, grab, or hold, it requires the preposition em. Here, em combines with the definite article o to form no.
Why is the verb form pegues used instead of pegas or pega?
For negative commands with tu, Portuguese uses the present subjunctive. The present subjunctive of pegar for tu is pegues. Notice the extra u added to keep the hard 'g' sound before the 'e'.
Why is pinça singular when the English translation says 'tweezers'?
How would we say 'The little decal is hard to pick up' using the grammar from this lesson?
You would say O decalquezinho é difícil de pegar. Notice that we drop the preposition em when using this 'Specific Subject + ser + adjective + de + infinitive' structure, even though pegar normally requires it when meaning 'to pick up'.
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